Latch for sliding screen door



arch 22, 1966 BANNER LATCH FOR SLIDING SCREEN DOOR Filed Oct. 21, 1963 INVEN TOR. JOSEPH IVA/ER i! 1 HM BY fem/Alan D OER/AN A TTOR/VEY UnitedStates Patent Ofiice 3,241,871 Patented Mar. 22, 1966 3,241,871 LATCHFOR SLIDING SCREEN DOOR Joseph Banner, Whittier, Califl, assignor toAnjac Manufacturing Co., El Monte, Calif., a limited partnership FiledOct. 21, 1963, Ser. No. 317,473 4 Claims. (Cl. 292--153) This inventionis directed to a lockable latch for a sliding screen door.

In the modern trend towards outdoor living large expanses of glass arebeing installed in homes and other structures. In most of theseinstallations a portion of the glass is openable. The opening is usuallyin a horizontal direction with a whole glass panel sliding adjacent tothe next such panel. Such openability is highly desirable for thepurpose of opening the building to the fresh air, but raises theadditional problem of permitting the entrance of insects. Thus, it isconventional to have a screen which may be moved into position over theopening. In such sliding door installations it is also conventional tohave the screen door slide into position. Suitable latches for suchsliding screen doors are non-existent for the doors are of relativelylight material, normally of extruded or rolled hollow aluminum sections,and standard hardware does not fit them. Thus, there is need for aspecially designed latch for use to retain the sliding screen doors ofsuch constructions in closed position. Of course, such a latch should beprovided with a lock so that it may be locked from the inside to preventunauthorized opening from the outside.

Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a latch for asliding screen door, such latch being of special design for use in thisenvironment so that it is sturdy and trouble free.

It is another object of this invention to provide a latch for a slidingscreen door, which latch is spring operated so that it automaticallylatches when the door is closed, and to provide both inside and outsidehandles of appropriate design so that the door may be unlatched andopened when desired.

It is another object of this invention to provide a lock on the interiorof the spring latch of this invention so that the latch may be renderedinoperative from the exterior, while in the latched position so that thesliding screen door is locked.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upona study of the following portion of the specification, the claims, andthe appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the side of a building showing asliding screen door having the latch of this invention in place thereon;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view, partially in section, of the inside ofthe sliding screen door showing the latch of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a partial section similar to a portion of FIG. 3 showing thelatch of this invention in locked condition.

As a means for describing this invention in essentially summary form itcan be stated that it essentially comprises a latch of specific designfor use with the frame of a sliding screen door. An operating memberpenetrates from the inside to the outside of the door, and thisoperating member is spring urged toward the latched position. Theoperating member is adapted to be manually engaged both from the insideand the outside for motion in opposition to the spring force. A latch onthe operating member engages with a keeper in the door frame so thatwhen closed, the latch is urged past the keeper by the opposed cam facesthereon against the action of the spring, until the door is completelyclosed when the latch engages behind the keeper. Thereupon the springurges the operating member into the latched position. A more detailedunderstanding of this invention will become apparent from the followingportion of the specification wherein the structure is described indetail with respect to the drawings.

Referring now to FIG. 1, seen therein is a building 10 having an opening12, in one end of which is mounted a fixed glass panel 14. Also withinthe opening 12 is mounted screen door 16 for horizontal sliding motionto an open position where it stands in front of the fixed glass panel14. Behind the screen door 16 is a conventional sliding glass panelwhich is also moveable to a position where it lies adjacent the fixedglass panel 14. The screen door 16 has suitable rails 18 for itshorizontal guidance and uprights 20 for structural supports.

As seen in FIG. 4, uprights 20' are formed of rolled stock to have ascreen metal engaging section 22 and an edgewise oriented open channel24. This structure defines an interior opening 26 which extends thelength of the upright 20. It is clear that while the structure shown isof rolled material, it could be equally well produced from extrudedmaterial, provided the material is of suitable characteristics forextrusion. It is conventional to use aluminum for these doors, and thusboth rolled and extruded uprights and rails are possible. Secured to theinside of the screen door 16 is an inside handle 28 adapted to bemanually engaged for the opening of the screen door 16. Similarly,secured to the outside of the screen door 16 is an outside handle 30adapted to be manually engaged from the outside for opening the door 16.Screws 32 pass through both handles to secure them to opposite sides ofthe door. The inside handle 28 is in the form of a relatively fiatmember bent in appropriate contour to fit the shape of the upright 20,and contains slot 34 therein to receive the inside manual latchoperator, as is hereinafter described. The outside handle 30 is relievedat 36 to provide suitable clearance for the exterior latch operatingmanually engageable handle.

The upright 20 has slot 38 cut in the bottom of channel 24 for the entryand securement of the mechanism of the instant latch. Inserted withinthe slot 38 is frame 40 which has a lower lip 42 secured by screw 44 tothe bottom of the channel 24. An upper lip 46 is arranged to engage theopening 38 to secure the other end of the frame 40 within the opening.The frame 40 is basically a U shaped channel bent of sheet stock havinglegs 48 and 50 extending parallel to each other. These legs extendupwardly where they are bent together and notched at 52 for engagementby hook 54 of spring 56.

The frame 40 is slotted at 58 to provide passage of shank 60 of latch62. The latch 62 is of suitable configuration to engage beneath the hook64 of keeper 66 secured in the edge of the opening 12. On the other endof the shank 60 is a flange 68 which has a hole 70 through one edgethereof for reception of hook 72 of spring 56. Since spring 56 is atension spring, it urges the latch 62 in the upward direction as seen inthe drawings.

The faces of the upright 20 are slotted at 74 and 76 for reception ofthe inside and outside latch operators 78 and 80 respectively. Each ofthese latch operators has a boss which extends inwardly to engage uponthe flange 68, and screw 82, having its head recessed in the insidelatch operator 78, passes through the inside latch operator 78, throughthe flange 68 and is threadedly engaged in the outside latch operator80. Thus, these three elements are firmly joined together for concurrentmotion. Slots 74 and 76 serve as guides to move the latch 62 in arectilinear path, and flanges 48 and 50 serve as transverse guides forthe latch 62. The outside latch operator 80 has a handle 90 whichprojects through the relief 36 of the outside handle 30 for convenienceof manual actuation.

The inside latch operator 78 is in the form of a slider which fitswithin the slot 34 of the inside handle 28. The slider has convenientcorrugations for engagement by the thumb when unlatching is desired, andalso carries a lock to prevent unauthorized opening of the latch. Thelock is in the form of a lockable detent 84 which is pivoted at 86 in anopening 88 in the inside latch operator 73. The configuration of thedetent member 84 is such that when it is in the unlocked position, asseen in FIG. 3, it is relatively flush with the back of the inside latchoperator 78. When the detent member 84 is rocked about its pivot 86, asseen in FIG. 5, it projects into the bottom of the slot 74. Thus, whenforce is applied to attempt to unlatch the sliding screen door 16, thedetent member 84 abuts the bottom of the slot 74 preventing motion inthe unlatching direction. Thus, the door is effectively locked.

It is clear from this specification that a lockable latch of particularutility for sliding screen doors has been described in its preferredembodiment. Numerous modifications and embodiments within the skill ofthose skilled in the art are possible. Accordingly the scope of thisinvention is defined by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A latch for a sliding screen door comprising:

an upright forming a structural part of the door, said upright beinghollow and having an inside and an outside parallel to the inside andthe outside of the door, said upright having an outwardly open channelformed at the edge thereof, slots formed in the bottom of said channeland in the interior and exterior sides of said upright;

a frame positioned within said slot in the bottom of said channel andsecured to said channel, said frame being of such configuration so as topresent flanges within the hollow interior of said upright, said frameincluding first and second lip means, one of said lip means engaging oneend of said slot so as to position said frame with respect thereto, theother of said lip means being secured to said channel adjacent to saidslot;

a latch located within said channel and extending into the hollowinterior of said upright between said flanges, said latch being movablymounted with respect to said frame, a spring connected between saidframe and said latch to urge said latch with respect to said frametoward a latched position;

interior and exterior manually actuatable latch operators extendingthrough said slots on the interior and exterior of said upright,respectively, said latch operators being secured to said latch so thatmotion of said latch operators cause motion of said latch whereby saidlatch can be manually actuated both from the interior and exterior ofthe sliding screen door.

2. The structure of claim 1 further including detent means, said detentmeans being connected to the inside latch operator and beingpositionable to engage the edge of the slot on the inside of saidupright, so that when so positioned actuation of said latch isprohibited.

3. A latch for a sliding screen door, said latch comprising:

an upright forming a structural part of the door, said upright having ahollow space and having an inside substantially planar panel and anoutside substantially planar panel defining the hollow space andrespectively facing the inside and outside of the door, said panelsterminating at an edge, said upright having an outwardly open channelformed at the edge thereof, a slot formed in the bottom of said channel,a slot formed in said inside panel into the hollow space therebelow, aslot formed in said exterior panel into the hollow space therebelow;

a frame positioned within said slot in the bottom of said channel, saidframe being secured to said channel and being engaged with said channelbottom adjacent both ends of the slot in said channel bottom, said framehaving first and second substantially parallel flanges extending intothe hollow interior of said upright, said flanges being substantiallyparallel to said panels, said frame including first and second lipmeans, one of said lip means engaging one end of said slot so as toposition said frame with respect thereto, the other of said lip meansbeing secured to said channel adjacent to said slot;

a latch located within said channel and extending into the hollowinterior of said upright between said first and second flanges, a springconnected to at least one of said flanges and to said latch to urge saidlatch toward a latched position;

an interior manually actuatable latch operator extending through saidslot in the interior panel of said upright, an exterior manuallyactuatable latch operator extending through said slot in said panel onthe exterior of said upright, said interior and exterior latch operatorseach being secured to said latch interiorly of said panel so thatoperation of either of said latch operators actuates said latch and saidlatch can be manually actuated both from the interior and exterior ofthe door.

4. The latch of claim 3 further including detent means, said detentmeans being pivotally mounted on said inside latch operator and beingpositionable to engage the end of said slot in said inside panel of saidupright, so that when said detent means is positioned in engagement withsaid end of said slot in said inside panel actuation of said latch isprohibited.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,964,344 12/1960Rich 292153 3,012,430 12/1961 Spork.

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,202,985 4/1958 France.

JOSEPH D. SEERS, Primary Examiner.

M. HENSON WOOD, JR., Examiner.

1. A LATCH FOR A SLIDING SCREEN DOOR COMPRISING: AN UPRIGHT FORMING ASTRUCTURAL PART OF THE DOOR, SAID UPRIGHT BEING HOLLOW AND HAVING ANINSIDE AND AN OUTSIDE PARALLEL TO THE INSIDE AND THE OUTSIDE OF THEDOOR, SAID UPRIGHT HAVING AN OUTWARDLY OPEN CHANNEL FORMED AT THE EDGETHEREOF, SLOTS FORMED IN THE BOTTOM OF SAID CHANNEL AND IN THE INTERIORAND EXTERIOR SIDES OF SAID UPRIGHT; A FRAME POSITIONED WITHIN SAID SLOTIN THE BOTTOM OF SAID CHANNEL AND SECURED TO SAID CHANNEL, SAID FRAMEBEING OF SUCH CONFIGURATION SO AS TO PRESENT FLANGES WITHIN THE HOLLOWINTERIOR OF SAID UPRIGHT, SAID FRAME INCLUDING FIRST AND SECOND LIPMEANS, ONE OF SAID LIP MEANS ENGAGING ONE END OF SAID SLOT SO AS TOPOSITION SAID FRAME WITH RESPECT THERETO, THE OTHER OF SAID LIP MEANSBEING SECURED TO SAID CHANNEL ADJACENT TO SAID SLOT;